The pulley-assistant propelled Todd to a couch standing to the right of the stage. I helped him lie down on it. Another assistant - who was a qualified medical doctor - came on to the stage, and carried out a brief examination.
He wrote something on a piece of paper, and handed it to me. Then he went to the front of the stage and made his statement to the audience.
“I have examined the master. He is fit. He is sane. He is in full possession of his senses, and knows what he is about to undertake. I have signed a statement to this effect.”
The pulley-assistant raised Todd once more, and propelled him around the stage, from one piece of equipment to another. When he had inspected them all, he nodded his agreement.
At the front of the stage, in the centre, I unstrapped his false legs. As they fell away from his body, one or two men in the audience gasped.
Todd’s arms were removed.
I then pulled forward one of the pieces of equipment: a long, white-covered table with a large mirror above it.
I swung Todd’s torso on to the table, then removed the harness and signalled for it to be lifted away. I positioned Todd so that as he was lying with his head towards the audience, and with his whole body visible to them in the mirror. I was working amidst silence. I did not took towards the audience, I did not look towards the wings, I was perspiring. Todd said nothing to me.
When Todd was in the position he required, he nodded to me and I turned towards the audience, bowing and indicating that the performance was about to commence. There was a ripple of applause, soon finished.
I stood back, and watched Todd without reaction. He was feeling the audience again. In a performance consisting of one solitary action, and a mute one at that, for best effect his timing had to be accurate. There was only one piece of apparatus on the stage which was to be used this evening; the others were there for the effect of their presence.
Todd and I both knew which one it was to be: I would wheel it over at the appropriate time.
The audience was silent again, but restless. I felt that it was poised critically; one movement would explode it into reaction. Todd nodded to me.
I walked again from one piece of apparatus to the next. On each one I put my hand to the blade, as if feeling its sharpness. By the time I had been to each one, the audience was ready. I could feel it, and I knew Todd could.
I went back to the apparatus Todd had selected: a guillotine made from tubular aluminium and with a blade of finest stainless steel. I trundled it over to his table, and connected it with the brackets for that purpose. I tested its solidity, and made a visual check that the release mechanism would work properly.
Todd was positioned now so that his head overhung the edge of the table, and was directly underneath the blade. The guillotine was so constructed that it did not obscure the view of his body in the mirror.
I removed his costume.
He was naked. The audience gasped when they saw his scars, but returned to silence.
I took the wire loop of the release mechanism and, as Todd had instructed me, tied it tightly around the thick meat of his tongue. To take up the slack of the wire, I adjusted it at the side of the apparatus.
I leaned over him, and asked if he was ready. He nodded.
“Edward,” he said indistinctly. “Come closer.”
I leaned forward so that my face was near his. To do this I had to pass my own neck under the guillotine blade. The audience approved of this action.
“What is it?” I said.
“I know, Edward. About you and Elizabeth.”
I looked into the wings, where she was still standing.
I said: “And you still want to… ?”
He nodded again, this time more violently. The wire release on his tongue tightened and the mechanism clicked open. He nearly caught me in the apparatus. I jumped away as the blade plummeted down. I turned from him, looking desperately into the wings at Elizabeth as the first screams from the audience filled the theatre.
Elizabeth stepped out on to the stage. She was looking at Todd. I went to her.
Todd’s torso lay on the table. His heart was still beating, for blood spurted rhythmically in thick gouts from his severed neck. His hairless head swung from the apparatus. Where the wire gripped his tongue, it had wrenched it nearly from his throat. His eyes were still open.
We turned and faced the audience. The change that had come over them was total; in under five seconds they had panicked. A few people had fainted; the rest were standing. The noise of their shouting was unbelievable. They moved towards the doors. None looked at the stage. One man swung his fist at another; was knocked down from behind. A woman was having hysterics, tearing at her clothes. No one paid her any attention. I heard a shot, and ducked instinctively, pulling Elizabeth down with me. Women screamed; men shouted. I heard the P.A. click on, but no voice came through. Abruptly, the doors of the auditorium swung open simultaneously on all sides, and armed riot-police burst in. It had been planned carefully. As the police attacked them, the crowd fought back. I heard another shot, then several more in rapid succession.
I took Elizabeth by the hand, and led her from the stage.
In the dressing-room we watched through a window as the police attacked the crowds in the street. Many people were shot. Tear-gas was released, a helicopter hovered overhead.
We stood together in silence, Elizabeth crying. We were obliged to stay within the safety of the theatre building for another twelve hours. The next day we returned to Racine House, and the first leaves were spreading.